Multimedia

Audio

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has sent urgent messages to world leaders Saturday, claiming that his country is fighting al- Qaida and that the United Nations resolution on Libya was invalid.

The messages come as fighting intensified on the outskirts of the main rebel-held city Benghazi and French President Nicholas Sarkozy confirms that French jets are now enforcing a no fly zone around Benghazi.

U.S. President Barack Obama, speaking in Brazil, said the people of Libya must be protected and he said the coalition enforcing the no fly zone in Libya is prepared to act to do that.

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi shelled targets inside the main rebel-held city of Benghazi Saturday as battles intensified in several outer suburbs. Both al Arabiya TV and al Jazeera TV, quoting eyewitnesses, said tanks loyal to Mr. Gadhafi had entered Benghazi.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy delivers a speech, March 19, 2011 at the Elysee Palace in Paris after a crisis summit on Libya

In Paris, western diplomats held a summit at Paris’ Elysee Palace to discuss military action in Libya. French President Nicholas Sarkozy spoke after the meeting, indicating that French, Arab and other western states had begun to enforce a no-fly zone near the rebel controlled city of Benghazi, but that Colonel Gadhafi could still comply with U.N. Security Council demands.

He says [the West] is intervening in Libya according to the U.N. Security Council mandate with Arab League approval in order to protect the Libyan people from the murderous folly of a regime that has lost all legitimacy by assassinating its own people. The Libyan people he adds must be able to chose their own destiny. He stresses that there is still time for Mr. Gadhafi to respect the demands of the international community, at which point diplomatic activity will resume.

In the Libyan capital Tripoli, government spokesman Ibrahim Moussa told reporters that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi had sent urgent messages to world leaders, including President Barack Obama, calling a U.N. Security Council resolution on Libya illegal:

He says that Mr. Gadhafi wrote that the Libyan people support him and he is ready to die for his people. He claims that Libya is fighting al- Qaida’s North African branch (AQAM) and no one else. He asks Mr. Obama what he would do, if al-Qaida captured and took control of an American city? He goes on to say that the U.N. Security Council resolution is illegal and unjust, because it infringes on the U.N. charter, which forbids meddling in a country’s internal affairs. He adds that Libya is not targeting civilians and asks outside observers to come and confirm this.

In Benghazi, former interior minister Abdel Fattah Younes, now a top rebel leader told al Jazeera TV that Gadhafi tanks were "beaten back by rebel fighters using rocket-propelled grenades."

Early Saturday a warplane belonging to rebel forces was shot down over Benghazi, crashing in a ball of smoke and flames. Rebel leader Younes confirmed that pro-Gadhafi gunners downed the plane but that the pilot ejected safely.

Arab satellite TV channels showed images of civilian homes damaged by shelling inside the city. Numerous casualties were reported. Rounds of automatic rifle fire crackled into the air throughout the day, punctuated by the intermittent sounds of explosions.

Amid the fighting, hundreds of civilian vehicles were seen fleeing Benghazi towards Tobruk and the Egyptian border. Witnesses at the Egyptian border post of Salloum saw scores of Libyans, including women and children, who had entered Egypt.

Witnesses reported that pro-Gadhafi forces also attacked the rebel-held western Libyan towns of Zentan, Nalout and Misrata. Tanks and field artillery reportedly pounded all three cities.

Follow our Middle East reports on Twitter and discuss them on our Facebook page.

Manned deep space missions are still a long way off, but space agencies are already testing procedures, equipment and human stamina for operations in extreme environment conditions. Small groups of astronauts take turns in spending days in an underwater lab, off Florida’s southern coast, simulating future missions to some remote world. VOA’s George Putic reports.

Video

Manned deep space missions are still a long way off, but space agencies are already testing procedures, equipment and human stamina for operations in extreme environment conditions. Small groups of astronauts take turns in spending days in an underwater lab, off Florida’s southern coast, simulating future missions to some remote world. VOA’s George Putic reports.

Video

Fifty years ago, lawmakers approved, and U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signed, the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The measure outlawed racial discrimination in voting, giving millions of blacks in many parts of the southern United States federal enforcement of the right to vote. Correspondent Chris Simkins introduces us to some civil rights leaders who were on the front lines in the struggle for voting rights.

Video

Billions of dollars of so-called ‘dirty money’ from the proceeds of crime - especially from Russia - are being laundered through the London property market, according to anti-corruption activists. As Henry Ridgwell reports from the British capital, the government has pledged to crack down on the practice.

Video

Ottawa, Illinois, is the hometown of W.D. Boyce, who founded the Boy Scouts of America in 1910. In Ottawa, where Scouting remains an important part of the legacy of the community, the end of the organization's ban on openly gay adult leaders was seen as inevitable. VOA's Kane Farabaugh reports.

Video

Artificial limbs, including the most complex of them – the human hand – are getting more life-like and useful due to constant advances in tiny hydraulic, pneumatic and electric motors called actuators. But now, as VOA’s George Putic reports, scientists in Germany say the future of the prosthetic hand may lie not in motors but in wires that can ‘remember’ their shape.

Video

A British pro-democracy group has accused Russia of abusing the global law enforcement agency Interpol by requesting the arrest and extradition of political opponents. A new report by the group notes such requests can mean the accused are unable to travel and are often unable to open bank accounts. VOA's Henry Ridgwell reports.

Video

Talks on a major new trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations are said to be nearing completion in Hawaii. Some trade experts say the "positive atmosphere" at the discussions could mean a deal is within reach, but there is still hard bargaining to be done over many issues and products, including U.S. drugs and Japanese rice. VOA's Jim Randle reports.

Video

Earth is in the midst of its sixth mass extinction. The last such event was caused by an asteroid 66 million years ago. It killed off the dinosaurs and practically everything else. So scientists are in a race against time to classify the estimated 11 million species alive today. So far only 2 million are described by science, and researchers are worried many will disappear before they even have a name. VOA’s Rosanne Skirble reports.

Video

Scientists have long been trying to develop an effective protection and cure for malaria - one of the deadliest diseases that affects people in tropical areas, especially children. As the World Health Organization announces plans to begin clinical trials of a promising new vaccine, scientists in South Africa report that they too are at an important threshold. George Putic reports, they are testing a compound that could be a single-dose cure for malaria.

Video

The latest issue of 'New York' magazine features 35 women who say they were drugged and raped by film and television celebrity Bill Cosby. The women are aged from 44 to 80 and come from different walks of life and races. The magazine interviewed each of them separately, but Zlatica Hoke reports their stories are similar.

Video

The United States is promising not to give up its fight against what Secretary of State John Kerry calls the “scourge” of modern slavery. Officials released the country’s annual human trafficking report Monday – a report that’s being met with some criticism. VOA’s National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin has more from the State Department.

Video

Abandoned more than 50 years ago, the underground streetcar station in Washington D.C.’s historic DuPont Circle district is about to be reborn. The plan calls for turning the spacious underground platforms - once meant to be a transportation hub, - into a unique space for art exhibitions, presentations, concerts and even a film set. Roman Mamonov has more from beneath the streets of the U.S. capital. Joy Wagner narrates his report.

Video

Greece has replaced Italy as the main gateway for migrants into Europe, with more than 100,000 arrivals in the first six months of 2015. Many want to move further into Europe and escape Greece’s economic crisis, but they face widespread dangers on the journey overland through the Balkans. VOA's Henry Ridgwell reports.

Video

After the closure of a major rubbish dump a week ago, the streets of Beirut are filling up with trash. Having failed to draw up a plan B, politicians are struggling to deal with the problem. John Owens has more for VOA from Beirut.

Video

A U.N. climate conference in December aims to produce an ambitious agreement to fight heat-trapping greenhouse gases. But many local governments are not waiting, and have drafted their own climate action plans. That’s the case with Paris — which is getting special attention, since it’s hosting the climate summit. Lisa Bryant takes a look for VOA at the transformation of the French capital into an eco-city.